Volunteer

Our volunteers are the heart of our mission--just ask one of the 16,891 people who volunteered in 2008. Their main job is to repackage bulk food into family-sized packages. Volunteers contributed 46,221 hours in 2008, equivalent to 23 full-time, year-long positions. At Missouri's minimum wage, that's $307,369. Around here, every dollar donated enables us to provide 20 pounds of food. So our volunteers' work enabled us to provide 6,147,380 more pounds of food! And that's just the volunteers who worked at the Food Bank facility in Columbia. Several hundred more people helped us with special events including a 5K/10K race, a clay shoot and several radio-thons.

Feeding 90,000 hungry Missourians every month is a big job--last year more than 1,400 people a month helped out at the Food Bank alone, not counting volunteers at our 145 agencies and 71 schools. If you're tall enough to work at a table and have a desire to help, you can be a part of the answer.

Volunteers must be 18 years old or accompanied by an adult and wear closed-toe shoes --it's a health department requirement.

You can volunteer once or on a regular basis. Come with a large group or come by yourself—there's always a group you can work with. You won't be alone. Hours are 9am-noon, 1pm-5pm, Monday through Friday. Evening hours are from 5pm-8pm, Monday through Thursday. Can't make it during the week? Work on Saturday from 9am-noon and 1pm-3pm. You can work one shift or two, or if you need to squeeze in an hour, that's fine too.

The Food Bank welcomes Community Service Volunteers too, from 9am-5pm, Monday through Friday.

Press "contact us" to get more information, including scheduling, or call at 573-474-1020, or 800-764-3663.